PLU 4761 and the mystery of the falling boots.

Hello day 15! This would be the half way point of my Whole30 had I not had my run in with the soy/butter devil last weekend. However, were still moving forward. This week, I had the pleasure of having olives, which I haven't had in forever, and I realized I like. I also discovered a new little gem. I give to you the exotic, CHAYOTE! Not to be confused with this coyote. 

chayote | ch äˈyōtē|noun1 a green pear-shaped tropical fruit that resembles cucumber in flavor.2 the tropical American vine that yields this fruit, also producing an edible yam like tuberous root. • 

Here she is in all her glory. 

Interesting indeed.

Moving on from food.... and on to life.... 
Do you ever find yourself picking up shoes and boots that fall in the closet? This week I swear I picked up about 90 pairs of boots. So, I got to thinking ( very Carrie Bradshaw of me) is the universe trying to send me a message or do I just have too many pairs of boots? Turns out, my Uggs fell this morning, and I was too lazy to put them back, so I wore them. Inside said boots were two magazines that scattered across the floor. ( I stuff magazines in my boots to keep them up straight. Who likes a slouchy boot closet? not me). The kicker is the magazines were none other than Runners World. The past two installments in fact, as well as a real housewives of Atlanta Us weekly exclusive. I am thinking, maybe this is the universe telling me that I need to start running again. Either that, or this week I should try some Georgia peaches, or maybe try to get on Real Housewives. Either way, today brought warm boots, a new vegetable and and some Real Housewives mixed messages. xo 
Donate or Participate!
* This weekend is the Polar Bear Plunge in Easton,Pa. If you want to join in or donate money, all proceeds go to the Special Olympics. If you are interested sign up with team " Ice Queens". See my page for more info!  
Polar Plunge! Donate today!

Chilian Sea Bass and the devil.

Last night, my wonderfully kind boyfriend took me on a fancy date to a local hot spot- Bone fish grille. I was super excited, because I had eaten there before,its delish and all that sea food would be Whole30 compliant. WINNING. We got there and ordered and I lied to the waitress. ( not my finest moment, but I didn't want to tell her about my psycho eating plan as of late) I told her I had an oil allergy, not even sure if they exist- but the diet is strict and I needed my sea bass with olive oil. She said no problem, so I ordered, Hans ordered. No harm, no foul. Right before our meal came out, she mentioned that the chef uses soy oil, not olive. RED FLAG Unfortunately, that is 100% non Whole30 compliant. Now, a regular human might have re ordered, or just thought how bad could a little oil be? But this book seriously stresses that even a little bit of something off limits can ruin the whole detox. So, out came the sea bass and I ate it. I might be crazy but who the hell am I not to eat a $30 dollar piece of fish? I am not that crazy. I ate it, and while it was good, it was also, along with the broccoli, drenched in butter. 

Now normally, I love me a good stick of butter ( the devil), but it actually made me feel sick to my stomach. In fact, after a few bites, it was all I could taste. I blame myself for this mistake. I have eaten out enough to know that butter is on fish and veggies alike. I researched a little on line to see if I could continue on with my Whole30 without a restart- NO DICE. I got hit hard on the butter (devil) train. So, in lieu of today being day 11 it is actually back to day 1. Don't get me wrong, I threw a HUGE fit, and cried a little. OK I am lying, I cried a lot

But I am going to continue on with the Whole30. I will just take it a little longer than planned. The end date was posted as January 31, it will now be good old February 12th. Oh well, lesson learned. I am counting today as day 11 I am just going to stay on the Whole30 train a little longer. Plus, I already marked a countdown on my calendar and that cant be changed- I used a sharpie for crying out loud! 

To all you Whole30ers out there the moral of this story is...

Stay away from the butter devil and keep on truckin' 

10-4 good buddies! 

Whole30 results and Fungus

Day 9 here and I have to say, I am feeling a little bit mean. I have been sleeping like a rock, ( good thing) I have more energy in the morning ( good thing) but by the end of the day I want to curl up into a ball and rot. I am exhausted. Aside from the usual work assault, nothing new is going on! I decided to make breakfast for dinner, because I am tired. This cooking business is tedious. I tried to make a perfect over easy egg but it didn't work, and since I was on the lazy train, I had to just scramble it! (boring). 

In the Whole30 Bible, it says that days 8-15 are a real challenge because you start to crave foods that you haven't had. I have to tell you, I was eyeing up pretzels today at work like a lion about to attack a gazelle. I also, had to the unpleasant experience of handing out cupcakes to the kids. Instead of having one, I asked the person who made them if I could just smell them. All time low? Perhaps. But none the less, I shoved my head into the container and breathed as deep as an asthmatic. 

Dinner tonight or shall I say breakfast for meal 3

Portabella Mushroom with yams scrambled eggs with veggies and apple smoked bacon.

Now something exciting! Some real results!

My friend Lauren actually completed the Whole30 on Tuesday. She was wild enough to take on the challenge during the holidays! What a beast! She made it all the way till the end and has continued her food plan this week and I believe was going to reintroduce beer tonight. She did a great job and she told me I could share her results. Check them out below! 

Laurens Before

Laurens awesome after

* Great job Lauren! You look great, but you did before too!

The Wonders of Wegmans and mistake mini shrimps

Today, I headed to Wegman's to get some supplies. Mainly, I was in the market for coconut oil to use as a healthy fat. Blah Blah. I found it. While there, I also stumbled upon some exotic fruits. I saw a sign for Jicama and I was excited because I saw it in many recipes that included it and I wanted to give it a  try. I mean who the hell knows what Jicama is? Not me! Unfortunately, I had no clue which bin held said Jicama and ended up buying two guavas by mistake. One would think, the big sticker that said GUAVA would have tipped me off. But Alas, I got home and ended up with the seeded nightmare that is the guava. If you have never had one, I dont really suggest you waste the .50 cents. They are so seedy, you cant even get a good bite in! See the green seedy mini beast below...

The guava was obviously a bust, but I did get some rare WHole30 things that I couldnt find other places. Tonight, I planned on making marinated shrimp with a mango salsa. I edited a few things and followed a recipe from Emeril for the shrimp marinade. I gotta tell you, the guys really onto something! Emeril did not disappoint. The shrimp were great, even though I bought the mini ones by accident. The salsa was also really good. It was a nice change of pace from beef. I give it 5 stars.

Shrimp with mango, pineapple and sweet red peppers

Now I give to you, my random Pepper Picture. Its random for sure, but isn't it a good looking pepper? It could be a model if there was a vegetable fashion show. 

My Wegmans Perfect Pepper.

* I wanted to showcase this pepper, but I ate it. ( and a clementine) .

Now thats a meaty sausage!

I love sausage! The Whole30 has changed my eating habits, but not my desire for sausage!! Tonight, Hans and I decided we would have sausage and peppers with grilled onions. Normally, it would be  a nice sandwich, but no bread for me. I cooked up some sausage for him and some for me. I gave him the usual, Primo Sausage and saved the good stuff for myself! Holy Cannoli! If you have never tried Aidells Sausage, I implore you to go and buy some now. Even if you live in the burbs you can grab it at any grocery store. It might be painful spending the extra few bucks but I assure you, its worth it. No nitrates, no fillers no crap. I went with Chicken and Apple. It was so good, I mean really really good. I enjoyed every bite.  There are so many flavors to choose from, and better yet, its all natural. Go out and give em a whirl. Bruce, Aidell is really onto something here. If you are in the market for some meat, please check out his site by clicking on the EAT ME link below. 

EAT ME

Browsing is for the birds

While delving into the Whole 30 I bought the book It Starts with Food which describes the eating plan in great detail. If you are  thinking about doing this, you need this book. 

I have to admit, and my friend Becky will attest to this, I never read things thoroughly. I skim, I browse, get the general points, and move on. When it comes to work emails, I just delete them. Its a bad habit, but leads me to my newest development. I didn't read the book carefully enough. There are some simple restrictions that I overlooked that I need to change in order to make this work. Here's what I have been doing right.

* Adding good fats to each meal, such as olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, olives etc.
* Eliminating added sugars, processed foods, dairy, grains and legumes.
* Eating fruits, meats and veggies at every meal.

Here's where I went wrong...
* I have been eating between the 3 meals. The book clearly states that there should be no snacking, and once you are doing it right, you wont need to.
* I have been eating clementines like they are going out of style. Apparently, fruits should be limited but are OK immediately following meals.
* I made my homemade secret ingredient compliant sherbet and ate it at night. Twice. Apparently, smoothies and versions of compliant treats and desserts aren't a good idea.

Day 6 is a new day, I guess my clementine and sherbet overload is on its way out. Otherwise, I am doing well and still alive. I spent most of my day prepping and planning my meals. See Below.

Breakfast: 2 eggs over spaghetti squash, peppers, mushrooms and onions. Whole30 approved apple bacon, and apple sausage. 

 Lunch was left overs from last nights dinner. Then I prepped some meals for the week. 

Sesame Beef Peppers and onions with mashed cauliflower 

                                                                  

Baked Veggies with Italian Seasonings

Butternut Squash with Apple Chicken Sausage
( this weeks breakfast)

Dinner for tonight, was apple and mustard seasoned pork chops and veggies 

Dinner.

Whole30

A wise man once said, were going to party like it's 3012 tonight, but Justin Bieber was a little premature. The holidays are finally over, and now we are moving well into 2013 (and 30). I decided that each year I make the same resolutions and then about half way through spring don't care or get bored with them. I decided instead of making a resolution this year, I would instead take the time to torture myself and do the Whole30 challenge. Apparently, this is similar to the Paleo diet, which has been around since the early 2000's. But, everybody knows that LA and NYC get all the coolest new fad diets first and alas, its finally made it way to the suburbs of Pennsylvania. Whole30 is a no carb, no sugar, no processed food, no legumes, no dairy food frenzy. In order to prepare for this, I convinced my mother I was poor, made her take me to Macy's and begged her to buy me a food processor. If you dont have one, you are missing out. My Cuisinart is a beast. It took me about 2 minutes to realize I could make sherbet in that thing - What can I say, being a dessert fiend is a gift. Its also good for prepping veggies etc. Aside, from the planning that is required in whole30 I am finding it to be interesting so far. I can proudly say that I already had my first avocado, and I actually made a spaghetti squash and its  day 4 of my whole30 challenge. I will keep you posted on my progress. Below are some of my latest culinary masterpieces.

Mango Raspberry blueberry Sherbet

My Zucchini "spaghetti" with raspberry meatballs